In a recent email, Pastor Glenn Guest wrote: “Your book continues to prime the pump for many interesting conversations at Jim’s Grill and many other places as well.”Despite our differing beliefs about pretty much everything, I enjoy hearing from Guest and thinking back on my visit to Danielsville. Our communications follow a fairly predictable pattern: Guest forwards some Armageddon-themed clip from God-knows-where about RFID, drones, privacy invasions, or electronic money, followed by some variation on the same ominous conclusion--the end is nigh. At least he resists the exclamation points or caps-lock warnings that I need to get my s**t together in advance of the Rapture. I then write back to say thanks and, on occasion, CHEER UP!

From financial crises in Europe to NSA snooping, digital payment tools to handgun regulations, all of it, in one way or another, is about laying the groundwork for the Beast's arrival.Yet it would be wrong to suggest that Guest's worldview is shaped only by fringy corners of the Internet. He also sends me stuff pulled from CNBC, TheAtlantic.com, and Forbes. A piece titled “Everything Changes with the Internet of Everything" about digital interconnectivity not just of computers but also cars, blood pressure monitors, houses, cereal boxes, satellites, forests, etc., prompted this assessment from my End Times theologian: “It seems like things might be accelerating a bit.” After sending a link to an article about a handgun safety bill that would require identification technology on the handle of every firearm, he wrote: “While this will probably get nowhere (for now), just remember that today’s outrageous proposals are tomorrow’s common sense solutions.”